Evolution of Cellular Life
The events leading to the evolution of cellular life are very poorly understood. This ancient, apparently unique, historical event cannot be readily replicated, making it inaccessible for systematic study. Consequently, most writing on this topic remains highly speculative, if not hopelessly deluded. Even a fundamental question such as whether the pathway towards life began first with replicating nucleic acids or from a protein based origin currently remains unresolved.
Physical Constraints on Cellular Physiology
Although the steps leading to the evolution of membrane bound, cell based life are not well understood there are several well defined physical constraints that definitely had to be resolved before this could occur. Three particular problems were:
- Transport of metabolites across the cell membrane
- Regulation of internal calcium concentration
- Regulation of osmotic balance/cell volume
The solutions selected for these problems set the basic plan for all subsequent cellular life and reverberate to the present day. Much of the particular functionality of the neurons in your brain derive from the solutions selected several billion years ago to resolve these narrow apparently simple physical problems. The rest of this chapter and the next describe the basic solutions to these problems.
Simulation 1 Diffusion of solutes.
The solutions selected for these problems set the basic plan for all subsequent cellular life and reverberate to the present day. Much of the particular functionality of the neurons in your brain derive from the solutions selected several billion years ago to resolve these narrow apparently simple physical problems. The rest of this chapter and the next describe the basic solutions to these problems.